I am an emeritus professor from Cornell University and was a Commissioned Lay Preacher in the Presbyterian Church (USA). For many years I have followed the Daily Lectionary as printed in the Mission Yearbook of my church. For each day of a two-year cycle, the lectionary lists four psalms and three other scriptural passages--usually one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament. My practice is to copy down a verse or two from one of the psalms and from each of the other three passages. After I have written out all four selections, I reflect upon them, rearrange their order, and incorporate them into a meditation. Sometimes I retain much of the original wording; sometimes all that remains of a selection is an idea that was stimulated when I read the original words. All selections are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible. For the Daily Lectionary, see the link below.

September 06, 2007

I. Readings
Psalms 26, 116, 130
1 Kings 11:1-13
James 3:13-4:12
Mark 15:12-21

II. Selections
Psalm 116:6
The LORD protects the simple;
when I was brought low he saved me.

1 Kings 11:3
Among [ King Solomon's] wives were seven hundred princesses and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned away his heart.

James 4:6
But [ God] gives all the more grace; therefore it says,
"God opposes the proud,
but gives grace to the humble."

Mark 15:20
After mocking [ Jesus], [ the soldiers] stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

III. Meditation: Strange grace

Surely it is true that your grace
is showered upon the humble,
not upon the proud; that you
protect the simple and save
us when we are brought low.
After all, King Solomon's heart
was turned away by his ostentation.

Still, who was more humble than Jesus?
Who lived more simply, and who was
more in need of your protection?
Sometimes you have a strange
way of showing your grace.
(Or so it seems to us.)

Posted by Elmer E. Ewing

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